In the United Kingdom, in order to link individual-level administrative records to survey responses, respondents need to give their consent. Using an unprecedented set of respondent, interview, and interviewer characteristics derived from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) matched with an interviewer survey, this research investigates which characteristics influence consent to adding health and social security records to the survey responses. We find that consent is related to respondents’ attitudes to privacy, community mindedness and data linkage salience as well as to some interview features such as the “household contagion effect” and the survey “fidelity.” Interviewer characteristics, including their personality, attitudes to persuading respondents, and job experience, are not associated with consent. Interviewers’ survey experience in the current wave and their task-specific experience, however, do influence consent. Implications of the findings are discussed and areas for future research are identified.
ArmstrongVictoriaBarnettJulieCooperHelenMonkmanMichelleMoran-EllisJoShepherdRichard. 2008. Public Perspectives on the Governance of Biomedical Research: A Qualitative Study in a Deliberative Context. London, UK: Wellcome Trust.
2.
BakerRichardShielsChristopherStevensonKeithFraserRobinStoneMargaret. 2000. “What Proportion of Patients Refuse Consent to Data Collection from Their Records for Research Purposes?” British Journal of General Practice50:655-56.
3.
BlohmMichaelHoxJoop J.KochAchim. 2007. “The Influence of Interviewers’ Contact Behavior on the Contact and Cooperation Rate in Face-to-Face Household Surveys.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research19:97-111.
4.
DunnKate M.KelvinJordanLaceyRosie J.MarkShapleyClareJinks. 2004. “Patterns of Consent in Epidemiologic Research: Evidence from over 25,000 Responders.” American Journal of Epidemiology159:1087-94.
5.
DurrantGabriele B.GrovesRobert M.LauraStaetskyFionaSteele. 2010. “Effects of Interviewer Attitudes and Behaviors on Refusal in Household Surveys.” Public Opinion Quarterly74:1-36.
6.
EsbensenFinn-AageMenardScott. 1991. “Interviewer-Related Measurement Error in Attitudinal Research: A Nonexperimental Study.” Quality and Quantity25:151-65.
7.
FuchsMarek. 2009. “Gender-of-Interviewer Effects in a Video-Enhanced Web Survey Results from a Randomized Field Experiment.” Social Psychology40:37-42.
8.
GerberYarivJacobsenSteven J.KillianJill M.WestonSusan A.RogerVeronique L.2007. “Participation Bias Assessment in a Community-Based Study of Myocardial Infarction, 2002-2005.” Mayo Clinic Proceedings82:933-38.
9.
GrayMichelleConstantineRebeccad’ArdenneJoannaBlakeMargaretUhrigS.C. Noah. 2008. “Cognitive Testing of Understanding Society. The UK Household Longitudinal Study Questionnaire.” Understanding Society Working Paper 2008Colchester, UK: University of Essex.
10.
GreeneWilliam H.2003. Econometric Analysis. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
11.
GrovesRobert M.CouperMick P.1998. Nonresponse in Household Interview Surveys. New York: Wiley.
12.
HansenKasper M.2006. “The Effects of Incentives, Interview Length, and Interviewer Characteristics on Response Rates in a CATI Study.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research19:112-21.
13.
HockleyChristineQuigleyMaria AHughesGarethCalderwoodLisaJoshiHeatherDavidsonLeslie L. 2007. “Linking Millennium Cohort Data to Birth Registration and Hospital Episode Records.” Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology22:99-109.
14.
HuangNicoleShihShu-FangChangHsing-YiChouYiing-Jenq. 2007. “Record Linkage Research and Informed Consent: Who Consents?” BMC Health Services Research7:18.
15.
JenkinsStephen P.LorenzoCappellariPeterLynnAnnetteJäckleEmanuelaSala. 2006. “Patterns of Consent: Evidence from a General Household Survey.” Journal of the Royal Statististical Society, Series A169:701-22.
16.
JohnOliver P.SanjaySrivastava. 1999. “The Big Five Trait Taxonomy: History, Measurement, and Theoretical Perspectives.” Pp. 102-138 in Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research, edited by JohnO. P.PervinL. A.New York: Guilford Press.
17.
KennickellArthur B.1999. “Analysis of Nonresponse Effects in the 1995 Survey of Consumer Finances.” Journal of Official Statistics15:283-303.
18.
KhoMichelle E.DuffettMarkWillisonDonald J.CookDeborah J.BrouwersMelissa C.2009. “Written Informed Consent and Selection Bias in Observational Studies Using Medical Records: Systematic Review.” British Medical Journal338:b866.
19.
LehtonenRisto. 1996. “Interviewer Attitudes and Unit Nonresponse in Two Different Interviewing Schemes.” Pp. 239-49 in Sixth International Workshop on Household Survey Nonresponse, International Perspectives on Nonresponse, edited by LaaksonenS.Helsinki, Statistics Finland.
20.
LinkMichael W.2006. “Predicting the Persistence and Performance of Newly Recruited Telephone Interviewers.” Field Methods18:305-20.
21.
LippsOliver. 2007. “Interviewer and Respondent Survey Quality Effects in a Cati Panel.” Bulletin de Methodologie Sociologique97:5-25.
22.
LynnPeter. 2003. “PEDASKI: Methodology for Collecting Data About Survey Non-Respondents.” Quality & Quantity37:239-61.
23.
O’MuircheartaighColmCampanelliPamela. 1998. “The Relative Impact of Interviewer Effects and Sample Design Effects on Survey Precision.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A161:63-77.
24.
O’MuircheartaighColmCampanelliPamela. 1999. “A Multilevel Exploration of the Role of Interviewers in Survey Non-Response.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A162:437-46.
25.
OlsonJanice A.1999. “Linkages with Data from Social Security Administrative Records in the Health and Retirement Study.” Social Security Bulletin62:73-85.
26.
PickeryJanLoosveldtGeert. 2000. “Modeling Interviewer Effects in Panel Surveys: An Application.” Survey Methodology26:189-98.
27.
PickeryJanLoosveldtGeert. 2001. “An Exploration of Question Characteristics That Mediate Interviewer Effects on Item Non-Response.” Journal of Official Statistics17:337-50.
28.
PickeryJanLoosveldtGeert. 2004. “A Simultaneous Analysis of Interviewer Effects on Various Data Quality Indicators with Identification of Exceptional Interviewers.” Journal of Official Statistics20:77-89.
29.
RogersWilliam H.1993. “Regression Standard Errors in Clustered Samples.” Stata Technical Bulletin13:19-23.
30.
SingerEleanorVan HoewykJohnNeugebauerRandall J.2003. “Attitudes and Behaviour. The Impact of Privacy and Confidentiality Concerns in the 2000 Census.” Public Opinion Quarterly67:368-84.
31.
SinibaldiJenniferJäckleAnnetteSarahTippingLynnPeter. 2009. “Interviewer Characteristics, Their Doorstep Behaviour, and Survey Co-Operation.” Pp. 5955-69 in American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) Conference. Hollywood, Florida: American Statistical Association, Survey Methods Research Section.
32.
StataCorp. 2009. Statistical Software: Release 11.0. College Station, TX: Stata Corporation.
33.
TateA. RosemaryCalderwoodLisaDezateuxCarolJoshiHeather. 2006. “Mother’s Consent to Linkage of Survey Data with Her Child’s Birth Records in a Multi-Ethnic National Cohort Study.” International Journal of Epidemiology35:294-98.
34.
TaylorMarcia F.2010. “Weighting, Imputation and Sampling Errors.” Pp. A51-27 in British Household Panel Survey User Manual Volume A: Introduction, Technical Report and Appendices, edited by BriceJ.BuckN.Prentice-LaneE.Colchester: University of Essex.
35.
WoolfSteven H.RothemichStephen F.JohnsonRobert E.MarslandDavid W.2000. “Selection Bias from Requiring Patients to Give Consent to Examine Data for Health Services Research.” Archives of Family Medicine9:1111-18.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
